Blood and Guts: The Tour de France's Painful Reality

The crashes are inevitable, and the pictures can be gruesome.

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Published July 25, 2018

Published 20 days ago

It's the biggest cycling event in the world — a yearly test of speed, stamina, mental toughness, and the ability to push through pain. The Tour de France wreaks physical havoc on riders every year, with scary crashes leaving the best cyclists in the world battered, bloody and, at times, unable to continue. As the 2018 race winds down, FOTO brings you the painful side of the Tour de France. (WARNING: Though all the cyclists pictured here survived, some of their injuries are graphic.) Above: The Netherlands' Laurens ten Dam continues after a bloody crash on stage 14 in 2011.

Chris Graythen/Getty ImagesA bloody Tiesj Benoot of Belgium finishes stage four after a big pile-up during this year's edition of the Tour de France.

KENZO TRIBOUILLARD/AFP/Getty ImagesSpain's Alberto Contador powers through 2016's opening stage after sustaining a huge gash on his shoulder.Tim de Waele/Getty ImagesPhilippe Gilbert is helped out of a ditch after crashing into a stone wall on a descent during stage 16 of this year's Tour de France. The Belgian would continue and complete the stage but an injured leg makes his return doubtful.

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JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty ImagesGilbert's sock is soaked in blood after finishing the stage.

PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty ImagesA rainy track for the 2010 individual time trials in Rotterdam caused Mathias Frank's bike to slip. The Swiss rider, making his Tour de France debut, finished the course but was forced out of the tour with a broken thumb and torn thigh muscle.Tim de Waele/Corbis via Getty ImagesKazakhstan's Alexey Lutsenko was tattered and bloody after crashing on stage nine of the 2017 Tour de France, but managed to continue.Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesFrance's Lloyd Mondory grimaces with pain after a crash in the opening stage of the 2010 tour left him with a sizable scrape.

POOL/AFP/Getty ImagesItaly's Marco Pinotti was forced to retire from the 2002 tour after sustaining a badly cut chin near the finish of stage five.PASCAL PAVANI/AFP/Getty ImagesA crash halfway into a 2010 time trial in Rotterdam caused Portugal's Manuel Cardoso to withdraw from the tour with a broken jaw and collarbone.Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesChristian Vande Velde crashed twice during stage two in 2010, the second of which left him in a ditch and out of the race with two broken ribs.